Obama removed Cuba from terrorism list despite Cuba’s Hezbollah base

During Secretary Hillary Clinton’s time at the State Department, prior to President Barack Obama’s removal of Cuba from the U.S. list of nations that sponsor terrorism, the radical Islamic group Hezbollah — a terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans — set up its own paramilitary base on the communist island, according to Judicial Watch. Classified intelligence received by Hillary Clinton via email,years before Obama’s decision to court the Castro brothers, shows a close relationship between the communist dictatorship and the jihadists.

The Hezbollah information was part of the suspicious Clinton emails released by the State Department last weekend as part of the probe into her use of a private Internet server to send and receive classified information while serving as Secretary of State.

The Obama White House is so fixed on making “nice” with Cuba’s Castro brothers that it is disregarding reports of Islamic terrorist activity on that island.

In prior reports by intelligence and security experts, Hezbollah’s name came up a number of times including a report released by the House Homeland Security Committee’s then Chairman Peter King, R-New York. Those prior reports and this latest one are being ignored by the mainstream media, which praised the president’s actions and even encouraged him to further his establishment of diplomatic ties with Cuba.

After appearing for decades on the U.S. government’s list of nations that sponsor terrorism, the Obama administration officially removed it to lay the groundwork for a full renewal of diplomatic ties that would benefit the Democrats and their own donors from the banking and business communities.

While they’ve refused to discuss terrorism or radical Islam — including the Democrats’ two presidential candidates Clinton and Cuban cheerleader Bernie Sanders — the administration knew that the radical Lebanon-based Islamic group Hezbollah was operating in Cuba, just 90 miles from the U.S, a few years earlier.

Not only that, but also a Judicial Watch, a non-profit government watchdog group, report states, “In a cable dated September 9, 2011 Clinton is informed that ‘extremely sensitive sources reported in confidence that the Israeli Intelligence and Security Service (Mossad) has informed the leadership of the Israeli Government that Hezbollah is establishing an operational base in Cuba, designed to support terrorist attacks throughout Latin America.’ The cable goes on to say that ‘the Hezbollah office in Cuba is being established under direct orders from the current General Secretary Hasan Nasrallah, who replaced Musawi in 1992.'”

According to the Judicial Watch-obtained information, “In preparation for establishment of the base, Nasrallah, working from inside of Lebanon, carried out secret negotiations with representatives of the Cuban government, particularly the Cuban Intelligence Service (General Intelligence Directorate — DGI), agreeing to maintain a very low profile inside of Cuba. Nasrallah also promised to take measures to avoid any trail of evidence that could lead back to Cuba in the event of a Hezbollah attack in Latin America.”

But despite all the information to the contrary, Obama told both houses of the U.S. Congress that his rescinding of “Cuba’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation included a certification that Cuba had not provided any support for international terrorism during the previous six-months.”

“Take away the technicality of six months and basically Obama lied to Congress and to the American people, since he knew darn well that a terrorist group was operating in Cuba,” said former counterintelligence analyst and police anti-terrorism unit commander Manual Serrano. “Hezbollah isn’t in Cuba to enjoy their beautiful beaches… Hezbollah is training and planning and recruiting,” Serrano added.

The U.S.State Departmentofficiallysaid the island nation was off the terrorist list in May 2015. In the State Department announcement they wrote: “While the United States has significant concerns and disagreements with a wide range of Cuba’s policies and actions, these fall outside the criteria relevant to the rescission of a State Sponsor of Terrorism designation.”

The recently released Clinton email, states that a “particularly sensitive source” confirmed that in the 1980s Hezbollah carried out similar contingency casing operations against U.S., British, and Israeli facilities and businesses in Latin America, Europe and North Africa. In 1992 Islamic Jihad, acting on behalf of Hezbollah, bombed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina in retaliation for the death of Hezbollah General Secretary Abbas al-Musawi, the email says.

“The new Clinton email creates a number of questions relating to the agency’s abrupt move to clear Cuba as a sponsor of terrorism,” said Judicial Watch officials.

Jim-Kouri

Jim Kouri, CPP, is founder and CEO of Kouri Associates, a homeland security, public safety and political consulting firm. He's formerly Fifth Vice-President, now a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, a columnist, and a contributor to the nationally syndicated talk-radio program, the Chuck Wilder Show..
He's former chief of police at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at St. Peter's University and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.